Accumulation, wealth and belief in Asante history: I. To the close of the nineteenth century

Abstract

Opening ParagraphThe present article is intended as the first of two contributions to the economic and social– but above all to the intellectual– history of the West African forest kingdom of Asante or Ashanti (now located in the Republic of Ghana). Both papers will attempt to pull together and to situate in a ‘mentalist’ framework a number of recent and confessedly disparate research findings concerning a cluster of concepts, ideas and beliefs that, merely for the sake of brevity at this point, I will assign simply to the embracing ‘neutral’ rubric of general transformations in the ideology (or ideologies) of wealth. The first article will be concerned with developments in Asante society up to the close of the nineteenth century (defined here interpretatively rather than in strictly chronological terms); its successor will concentrate on a highly detailed examination of a sequence of crucially telling events in the early colonial period, and upon selected developments thereafter in the twentieth century. The articles are designed and intended to be read sequentially; the first, it is hoped, will assist in making sense of the significantly denser context (and more detailed content) of the second.

Ghanaian Migrants in Germany and the Social Construction of Diaspora Les migrants ghanéens en Allemagne et la construction sociale de la diaspora

“…was the Asantehene's power of distributing honorary titles and other forms of public recognition. For instance by subjecting themselves to a public ritual, wealthy men could achieve formal recognition as asikafo (wealthy people), which entitled them to wear a cloth with a special design on public occasions (Arhin 1983;McCaskie 1983).…”

The sudden death of a millionaire: conversion and consensus in a Ghanaian kingdom

“…Both names allude to the publicly acknowledged Akan title of Dbirempon, which itself resonates images of accumulated wealth (women, land and subjects) and public display. McCaskie (1983 and masterfully describes the contemporary successful businessman as a 'new-model Dbirempon'.…”

“…14 See Arhin (1986: 27) on the view of 'progress' of the early twentieth century Asante asonkofo (wealthy traders/businessmen); they traced it from warriors to merchants, traders, Christians, and men of property with well-educated children. See also McCaskie (1983 and on the continuity of ideas about wealth among the Asante.…”

Filiation, Economic Crisis, and the Status of Women in Rural Ghana

“…2 Therefore, for Fortes, patrifiliation was not a principle capable of dominating the structures of Ashanti life or of significantly interfering with decisions or arrangements made within the lineage. Rather, it provided avenues for individual choice and initiative, and, it imparted a viability to the structural system of the Ashanti (Fortes 1963, 61 (Arhin 1983;McCaskie 1983;Mikell 1983a). I suspect that the dynamics of change in the European contact period may have imparted more overt economic aspects to the operation of lineage principles.…”